A Gabbs Emergency

My name is Debra Ross. I Live in Gardnerville, Nevada. In late 2007 several animal organizations went to a place called Gabbs, Nevada where a lady had hoarded 150 dogs…..she passed away and left behind the 150 dogs. I volunteer for United Animal Nations-EARS. They took about 50 of the dogs and sheltered them in Reno, Nevada while they placed these 50 dogs in foster homes etc. One dog-Socks(see her pic below)-seemed real feral and aggressive. They had thoughts of putting her down. When the temporary shelter was about to close, Socks was the only one leftL I decided to take on the challenge, re-hab her and find her a home…..I prepared my house setting up her own private bedroom in the house with a dog door to a VERY secure 12 x 12 kennel with a top. She came to my home 2/21/2008. As of this letter she has been here 20 months. In the beginning she was very scared, would not come inside, afraid of the building, the TV, ceiling fan etc…I tried leash training-way to soon and paid with several good bites…soon she showed interest in my male Queensland and my female lab/huskie. After several months, I “Housed” her with them. They had a bigger “Patio yard” and there own bedroom-no more small closed in kennelJ Since my lab/huskie was old and had cancer, Socks and my Queensland fell in love…..he taught her to come inside, with his help we have crate trained her and she will go in her crate at request. She finally would eat out of a bowl, was not afraid of the TV anymore etc… She seems to be OK with my kids who are younger 6 and 9. It is like she does not see them as “People” so she likes them…BUT she will NOT allow touch from anyone….UNLESS she is in the crate….I have rubbed her, brushed her and put on a collar…and she has not even tried to bite now that she has settled. After about 6 months here, we had the vet knock her out, transport her, spay, microchip & vaccinate her. He believes she is 3 or 4 and maybe born on the property. That may be why she is more feral than the others. The problem I am having now is that my Queensland is confined to this small area during the day(bedroom/patio yard) and entire yard at night-with her only…but he no longer is out playing with our little dogs because Socks looks at them and has gone after them to eat them…..IF I secure her and bring the Queensland out, she can clear a 6 foot fence easy to get to him and be with him. So I have several issues…I can not trust her with little dogs….and it is a train wreck waiting to happen if(when) she got out and got to them. My Queensland is lonely and is starting to show aggression toward her. She does fine with large dogs and we have had 7 or 8 here at once and she plays OK….but a Medium or small dog…she see’s food….My kids are sad and so am I that our Queensland is not with us all the time, like he used to be…I felt if I got to where I can lead her on a leash and make more progress I could work on the little dog issue, BUT we have not made anymore progress. We have decided that within the month we should put her down, before a bad situation happensL But first I decided to reach out to maybe find her a place to go and maybe go to that next level that I can not get her to….a place where the person has a good set up to keep her safe(enclosed kennel with access to indoors), no small animals and a person who knows what they are doing……..if this is you please E mail me at: Debra@petsittersplus.com